Carl Purcell

My camera has been a passport to adventure. It has allowed me to span continents at the speed of sound. I have carried my camera to the depths of the ocean to explore coral reefs and swim through shimmering schools of silver fish. It has unlocked doors from ancient castles and mud huts on the edge of the Sahara. I have photographed presidents and marched with Martin Luther King. I invite you to share my adventures through my images on this site.

Photography is a powerful medium, enhanced by the Internet. Today we live in a global village and Fine Art America is an art museum that provides a showcase for anyone with talent and an Internet connection. It is inspiring to see what people from all parts of the world have created. It is like walking through the galleries of the Louvre, the Hermitage and the Prado.

My first job with the government was as the photographer on the Peace Corps staff. My first day on the job I left on a trip around the world. In the following years I visited volunteers on remote islands in the Pacific and isolated villages in Africa, my camera recording over a million images of these idealistic young Americans and the people they worked with. John Kennedy said, 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country' and their response is history.

Eventually my travels took me to just over 100 countries including all of Africa and Europe. I was inspired by Ernest Hemingway, Ansel Adams Cartier Bresson and Jaques Costeau.

My photography has been published in LIFE, LOOK, PARADE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PARIS MATCH and STERN in Germany and my column 'The Traveling Camera' appeared in almost every major newspaper in North America. I also wrote a monthly column in POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY magazine for 17 years. My commercial images are available on Corbis, that image archive owned by Bill Gates. Some of my photographs have even been displayed in his home.

Many of these images are also available for editorial or advertising use at corbis.com or alamy.com. Or you can contact me directly at carlpix474@aol.com or by phone at (352) 989-3552.